


The Unknown

by KyloReam



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: (how many more times can I use the word 'gender'), Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Cis Girl Hux, Cunnilingus, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Evil Space Boyfriends, Evil Space Girlfriends, F/F, Femslash, Gals being pals, Gender Nonconforming Girl Kylo Ren, Gender or Sex Swap, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Genderbending, Hux Has Issues, Inappropriate Use of Kylo Ren's Helmet, Inappropriate Use of the Force, Kylo Ren Has Issues, Kylux: Queer Girl Romance with Minimal Angst Edition, Oral Sex, Pining, Rule 63, Snoke Being a Dick, Space Gender Politics, Vaginal Fisting, Virgin Hux, Virgin Kylo Ren
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-04
Updated: 2016-08-04
Packaged: 2018-07-29 05:35:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7672126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KyloReam/pseuds/KyloReam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>What is Kylo Ren?</i>
</p><p>General Armitage Hux — co-commander of the First Order, the military’s highest-ranking female officer and the youngest general in its history, often described by her peers as 33 and scary, — sits in her quarters at night and thinks again about the question which has been plaguing her for the last annual. Is it just the unknown? Or is it something more? </p><p>(Or, the gender inverted Kylux AU nobody asked for, but which we debatably deserve.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Unknown

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME I'M FINALLY POSTING MY FIRST ORIGINAL AU WOOHOO
> 
> The Unknown is my beautiful, inelegant daughter — this fanfic is the first thing I started writing for Kylux sometime in January. It's been worked and reworked it so many times that there are barely any sentences from the original fic. (Granted, I’ve also gotten tremendously better at writing and characterizing Hux and Kylo now versus at the beginning of the year.) 
> 
> This fanfic would not have been possible without the encouragement from several people, most notably [voidrot](http://archiveofourown.org/users/voidrot) and [saltandlimes](http://archiveofourown.org/users/saltandlimes/pseuds/saltandlimes). You guys rock, thank you so much for listening to me bounce headcanons off of you for days. 
> 
> In typical Extra McExtrason™ fashion, this fic has a playlist! [Go listen to it on Soundcloud!!](https://soundcloud.com/katherinternet/sets/the-unknown)

_What is Kylo Ren?_

General Armitage Hux — co-commander of the First Order, the military’s highest-ranking female officer and the youngest general in its history, often described by her peers as 33 and scary, — sits in her quarters at night and thinks again about the question which has been plaguing her for the last annual.

She stares up at the ceiling as if to recall their first meeting. She can picture the two of them standing in the Finalizer’s conference room before the Supreme Leader's oversized hologram, Ren towering next to her in seemingly endless robes, silent but for the faint sound of mechanized breathing. In the memory Snoke’s voice rumbles above them like an approaching storm as he describes Kylo Ren as Master of the Knights of Ren, as his most esteemed apprentice and pupil. He extolls Ren’s mission to purge the galaxy of the Jedi, describes and asks Ren to demonstrate command of the Force — including Ren levitating objects in the room and dipping briefly into Hux’s mind — and closes by naming Kylo Ren co-commander of the First Order, where they will alongside Hux. 

Hux remembers leaving the room feeling incensed by Leader Snoke’s disregard for the power she’d earned over a lifetime of military education, training, and practice as an officer. It was audacious that he should see fit to install some strange interloper whose name she had only heard recently. And she feels violated, too, by the strange sensation of pressure around her head as Kylo Ren entered her mind. As she walked out of the conference room, Ren’s long strides just inches in front of her, she remembers being about to turn toward him, about to tell Ren he had no business reading her mind. In that moment, she realized Snoke had never referred to Ren by any pronouns.

Hux leads forward, rubbing at her temples. This is no accident. 

She’d been quick to investigate, pulling up the First Order’s holorecords and checking Kylo Ren’s file. The only marked fields and records displayed information about Ren gleaned from the last five years, beginning with their first known appearance during the massacre of Luke Skywalker’s Jedi academy. Everything else – gender, planet of origin, date of birth, living or deceased relatives – remained a blank, as though Ren manifested fully formed out of the Dark Side itself.

The realization was and still is infuriating. Hux prides herself on having one of the finest minds of her generation, having mentally and physically dominated students at the New Imperial Academy and risen in the ranks to become General of the First Order at 30. Snoke’s omissions—and the lack of readily available information about Ren—tell of a concerted effort to hide Ren’s identity. Hux isn’t one to give in to conspiracies, but remains distrustful of personal mythologies that elevate one to a god. Kylo Ren may play at being ageless, genderless, the First Order’s mystical Jedi Killer, but she knows a deceiver. 

As a student Hux trained herself to read body language and nonverbal cues and used this skill to understand and exploit the beliefs of the people she met, whether professors, classmates, or even her own father. They called it empathy, praised her for being so attuned to the emotions of others, but Hux knows it’s a game of chess she constantly plays with everyone she meets. 

Of course, she tried to figure out Kylo Ren’s gender by deconstructing their physical appearance. By all accounts, they are a nightmarish beast barely contained within the First Order, and they’ve equipped themself with all the necessary props. There’s Ren's sparking lightsaber, which looks as though it could malfunction at any moment, and their trailing dark robes and cowl, which look perpetually frayed and battle-worn and smell of smoke and incense. The garments they wear beneath the robes look more like armor than fabric, leather and waxed cloth glinting like dull plasteel. On top of all this, they wear a helmet which transforms them into a symbol, something immortal. To this day, Hux has never seen Ren without it, no one within the First Order has, save perhaps Snoke.  

Ren’s behavior offered her no clues, either. They don’t say much, preferring to loom over people and angle their body  _just so_ to signal their emotions, which are usually disgust, silent anger, or a combination of the two. When they do speak, it’s in as few words as possible, delivered in a deep mechanized growl. It’s off-putting to the other officers within the First Order and makes even the most battle-hardened soldiers and officers balk. But Ren doesn’t merely  _act_ dismissive or angry; their moods flood the space around them, causing moments of panic to erupt among crew members. Hux remembers the first time this happened, as the officers on the command bridge furiously popped anxiolytics or pushed themselves into their desks in an attempt to remain calm. 

Hux herself remembers feeling the tendrils of fear entering her mind, as if she were moments away from plunging into an abyss. Instead, she found the abyss and stared into their dark visor. 

“You need to control your temper,” she said, gritting her teeth. Ren’s behavior was irresponsible. She wondered if this was common among whatever species they might be — a less sophisticated life form, she thought. Hux remembers smiling, remembers forcing her features into something pleasant, as if to demonstrate to Ren the act of properly weaponizing emotions. “When was the last time you made use of your meditation chamber, Master Ren?"

For a moment, they said nothing. Hux remembers hearing a hissing, crackling sound through their helmet—accompanied by a flicker of lights overhead—before Ren finally spoke. “Your soldiers and officers are weak if they are so affected by my surface emotions,” they said curtly. “Perhaps they should learn mindfulness.” Without another word, Ren had balled their hands into fists and stalked away from Hux, cloaks swishing out around their body.

As soon as they’ve left, the mood and productivity on the bridge resumed to normal, the problem mitigated. There was no applause, no cheers from the officers, just a return to order. Hux recalls wondering if Wilhuff Tarkin ever had to put up with this foolishness.

That incident marked an escalation in rumors of Kylo Ren’s Force talents. Ren can choke people with a wave of their hand, or can stop a blaster bolt in midair. Ren once plunged their lightsaber into a computer console during a fit of rage and Ren possessed an officer without their consent. Together with the Knights of Ren, they destroyed one of the minor planets in the Core Worlds because the entire population was Force-sensitive.  _Personal mythologies,_ Hux remembers thinking. The Force sensitive planet never existed in the first place, and she decides Ren was the source of that rumor, perhaps the source of all the rumors.

And yet, there is no doubt Ren is strong in the Force, whatever form it may take and whatever form _they_ may take. They have a cultish devotion to Darth Vader, one Hux discovers by accident when she’s called by Snoke to summon Ren from their meditation chamber. It’s dark in the chamber, heavy with the smells of oil and ash and smoke, and in the haze of the room she can just make out their tall body hunched over an object on a dais, cowl worn back on their shoulders.  

Instantly the chromium glint from their helmet had turned toward her. “What are you doing here?” Ren had snapped, rising to their feet. “This is my meditation chamber. You don’t belong here.” 

Hux had, of course, held her ground, politely explained that Snoke required their audience for an upcoming mission briefing. She tried to see what was on the dais.

“It’s a relic,” Ren said. “I use it in my meditation.” Hux suddenly had an image pushed into her head — dark robes, a red blade, the sound of mechanized breathing, had the sensation of seeing a figure layered on top of Ren. As she backed out of the chamber, she remembered feeling incredibly overwhelmed with thoughts she knew were not her own of duty, of legacy, of training a life away. Through all of this Ren said nothing, merely stared at her (or at least pointed their helmet toward her, she sometimes doubted whether they could see) and covered their head before heading off. 

In the present, Hux realizes Ren’s thoughts and emotions weren’t so different from her own. 

From a young age, Hux has known that her success depended on carrying on her father’s legacy. Brendol Hux had never wanted children, much less a daughter, and as a child she learned quickly not to expect much compared to the few fathers she knew. He was consumed with his work, with the Imperial military program, and if Hux wanted to be in his graces she was expected to cultivate the same knowledge. Histories of the Galactic Civil War took precedence over fairy tales, viewing proceedings in the New Republic’s re-established Galactic Senate over holodramas. 

As a young child, she had been brainy, insufferable. She excelled in elocution and debate skills, in hand-to-hand combat and grappling, because they were the best weapons she had. Carrying on and furthering the Imperial legacy through diligence and success was her only hope of advancing within the First Order. The name Armitage Hux became associated not with a weak and useless girl, but with a young woman talented and skilled beyond her years, who could hold her own against the children who carried the names Piett and Tarkin and Krennic, the old Imperial families. Hux is a general at thirty, and is expected to control a weaponized planetoid with the ability to destroy entire star systems by her thirty-fourth life day. 

Hux wonders about Ren’s connection to Darth Vader, whose image and presence she’d felt in the meditation chamber. Occasionally she tries to imagine what a young Ren might have been like, if Ren’s childhood was as dysfunctional as her own or was improved by their Force sensitivity. She wonders whether the power, drama, and mystery Ren dresses themself in are pretense or are grounded in experience. In the same breath she curses herself for putting so much attention toward Kylo Ren. Their history and appearance are inconsequential trivia compared to their duties as the First Order’s enforcer, and Hux’s own role as a military commander takes precedence over Ren’s physicality and spirituality.

Hux closes her eyes and leans away from her datapad, and wonders again why she’s magnetically drawn to Kylo Ren.

She’s never felt particularly close to anyone. She had companions as a child, of course, and there were the peers she’d associate with as a student and a cadet, but the relationships she maintained were all based around convenience or necessity. Hux could name the members of her senior academy debate team, the rich young boys of the Piett and Tarkin and Krennic families who’d been her escorts to officer’s balls, but she’d never felt any emotional attachment to them beyond what she deemed necessary. In many ways her father had been glad she put a career over being an officer’s wife. Were he still alive, she’s certain he would have approved of her choosing service over naming another officer her wife as well. 

Hux wonders if Kylo Ren loves, if love is an emotion they’ve ever felt. The helmet erases most of the emotion from their voice, but on rare occasions the faintest traces of emotions which aren’t anger or disgust escape. She’s heard fervor for the Supreme Leader’s teachings, devotion to the Order of Ren, even fondness when, upon running into Ren in the armory, they explained and demonstrated a lightsaber kata of their own creation. In these brief moments Ren seems unlike the anger-filled persona they dress themself in, and she wonders if this is how they behave when no one is watching. 

She doesn’t have clearance to access vidfeeds outside of public spaces on the Finalizer, wouldn’t have a reason to view private feeds unless an officer were suspected of activity outside of the First Order’s protocols. Refusal to reveal one's gender is not automatically evidence of treasonous activity or improper conduct—Hux has verified this. So on evenings like this, when all her work is done and the lights are dimmed low in her bedroom, Ren becomes the thought she entertains for the night.

Hux imagines herself cracking open Kylo Ren's carapace and getting at the meat underneath. Sometimes the Ren who unfolds underneath her hands is monstrous, with compound eyes and an arthropod’s mandibles in place of a mouth. Sometimes their face is covered in scales or slime, and they have no eyes at all, or a mouth filled with rows of sharp teeth. Once she imagined that they had no face at all, merely a network of circuits that plugged in to their helmet.

In her favorite version of the fantasy, she lifts off Ren’s helmet and discovers they are female, that they are beautiful with wild hair and a wicked mouth. 

Hux remembers the swell of emotion she’d felt upon seeing Captain Phasma’s face for the first time, the odd possessive warmth that rose within her. She remembers how her heart sank when she discovered Phasma had an officer who was her girlfriend, though she’d later tell herself it was inevitable, that Phasma had no reason to consider her. Phasma, after all, was older, more experienced, had doubtlessly had partners since she was promoted within the First Order. 

_But Ren, Ren being female…_

In her fantasies, Hux never gets beyond kissing Ren, to pressing herself up against them, rutting herself on their long robes. She’s never given herself completely to anyone, hasn’t done anything besides exchanging kisses and sloppy groping. Her orgasms have been hers and hers alone. She’s sure Ren would judge her for her inexperience — any partner would, she’s certain — and she feels shameful and empty after bringing herself off. Hux is set against Ren knowing the truth, and knows the next time she sees them she’ll find herself hoping they are in fact monstrous. She’ll hope she never has to ask Ren about gender or planet. 

She wonders if she doesn’t ask because she knows what she’ll see when Ren takes off their mask: an ordinary face, perhaps an ugly one. They’ll be human, despite the rumors of the Knights of Ren being a collective of beings from around the galaxy. Ren’s behavior marks them as young, talented in combat and strong in the Force but still inexperienced in command. There are moments when Hux is convinced that, should Ren take off their helmet, the face underneath would be that of a petulant bratty boy from some Outer Rim planet who she wouldn’t have otherwise cared about. 

And really, what reason would Ren have to care for her? She lacks Ren’s magnetism, is instead all analytics and engineering. She’s formidable, untouchable, utterly sexless down to her standard uniform and short haircut.

What reason, Hux thinks to herself as she lies alone in the dark, does she have for caring about Kylo Ren? Is it just the unknown? 

Or is it something more? 

**Author's Note:**

> Come holler at me about gender inverted AUs at [kyloream](http://kyloream.tumblr.com/) and [vegetadentata](http://vegetadentata.tumblr.com/).


End file.
